I am going to take my LSAT in June, and apply for Fall 2010 admission. I've read up on several law schools, and Penn seems like it has a really nice atmosphere. It struck me as laid-back, collegial, and intellectual, rather than cold and competitive. Of course, it's Penn, and I only have a 3.5 from a decent, but not exceptionally great, state university, so I think it's a long shot.

Which schools have communities similar to Penn, and which ones don't?

Also, has anyone heard of decent financial aid being awarded to students transferring to a T-14 school?

I have no idea (I didn't attend the course, I got them at a used book store). They are not credited as reprinted official questions in the books themselves, but they could have been credited in the other material handed out in the course. They're marked "not for resale," so maybe standard citation rules don't apply.

I have no first-hand knowledge, but from what I understand, modern Kaplan courses use real questions but they did not always do so. I do not know the cut-off. How old are your books?

The "not for resale" books: LSAT Home Study Book-2004,LSAT Lesson Book-2005,LSAT Lesson Book (unlike the previous book, in the table of of contents it says "Session 2 (Extreme 2), Section 3 (Extreme 4)..." so I think it might be from the Kaplan Extreme course-2006, Mastery Homework-2006, LSAT Stratosphere Workbook-2006, LSAT Pacing Practice-2006 (Real LSAT questions cited within this book, and KLI just verified that they were real questions.)

I have no idea (I didn't attend the course, I got them at a used book store). They are not credited as reprinted official questions in the books themselves, but they could have been credited in the other material handed out in the course. They're marked "not for resale," so maybe standard citation rules don't apply.

I'm in the midst of studying using the PowerScore trio, but I've also picked up a few Kaplan books (180, Pacing Practice, Home Study, & Stratosphere Workbook). I've since learned that their questions may not be close enough to the real thing to be useful, and that practicing with them might actually hurt me. Is this true?

The consensus on LSAT prep is that I should do as many practice problems as possible, so I'm going to try to get my hands on as many questions as I possibly can. I also understand that the LSAT has changed through the years. Are the old tests not as useful as the newer ones? How do the old tests compare to the "fake" Kaplan questions? How old is "too old"?

I tried taking the LSAT last October, and I didn't get the results I wanted (I ended up canceling the score the following week). I will be forthright and say that I haven't mastered the material or sufficiently prepared for the score that I need (hiiiigh). I am currently working to master the content, and next, I will move to taking timed practice tests.

What's bothering me is the uneasiness and panic I felt during the test. It compounded my "content problem" by making it difficult (impossible at times) to concentrate on the problems. I got to a point where I just lost it and bubbled "C" for the last 3/4 of a section, using all my strength just to hold my composture.

Have any of you successfully addressed similar issues? If so, how? If you are not comfortable "publishing" your story on this forum, please PM me or something.

By the way: I am sure that a good deal of this can be attributed to my lacking content studies, and limited timed practice (maybe even most of it). I am also aware of the fact that the LSAT authors intentionally try to screw with people. I have also wasted $40 on a test-taking mastery hypnosis CD, which I had used a couple of weeks before my unfortunate encounter with the LSAT.